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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- This email message is a "New Partner from Paraguay" scam.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- infosarah@web2mail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Mark Eze" <ezemrmark1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrmark_eze@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:22:37 +0200
Subject: I'm happy to inform you about my success
I'm happy to inform you about my success in getting the fund transferred to a
Swiss Account with the cooperation of a new partner from Paraguay who is an
international business man. Presently I'm in Paraguay for investment projects
with my own share of the total sum. Meanwhile, I did not forget your past
efforts and attempts to assist me in transferring those funds despite that it
failed us some how.
Now contact my secretary with this information below:
Name: Mrs.Sarah Olu Email: infosarah@web2mail.com
Tel: 234-8068740861
Ask her to send you the total $850.000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand US
Dollars) which I kept for your compensation for all the past efforts and
attempts to assist me in this matter. I appreciated your efforts at that time
very much. So feel free and get in touched with my secretary Mrs.Sarah Olu and
instruct her where to send the amount to you. Please do let me know
immediately
you receive it so that we can share the joy after all the sufferings at that
time. In the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects
which I and the new partner are having at hand.
Finally, remember that I had forwarded instruction to my secretary on your
behalf to receive that money, so feel free to get in touch with tha Mrs.Sarah
Olu, and she will send the amount to you without any delay.
With best regards,
Mr. Mark Eze
Former Director Telex Wire (CBN)
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Anti-fraud resources:
